Student fashions from Honolulu CC hit the runway

“For the last three years that I have been in the program, this is what I have been working for,” said Jacqueline Ann Miszuk, a Honolulu Community College senior designer who showed her collection in the 2014 event. “It’s the highlight of our educational career—to display our talent and our skills that we’ve learned here.”

The school’s first fashion show was in the 1920s when the highly regarded program was founded.

“The first ones were done on the tables of the classrooms and now we have elevated ourselves to having a venue, a nice venue,” said Joy Ann Nagaue, head of the program.

The event is now held at Honolulu Community College’s Marine Education and Training Center on Sand Island, but by the look and feel of the show, it could easily be New York City or Milan.

“If you don’t have this, they are not as creative,” said Nagaue.

The senior designers always take full advantage of the opportunity to let their creative juices flow.

“I am showcasing costumes for the stage and for films, with an avant-garde twist,” said Randy Leono, one of the senior designer.

“My collection tonight is a very sophisticated yet edgy look for women and it’s inspired by geometrical shapes and architecture, structure,” said Miszuk.

Every year, each senior designer displays his or her own unique style. The one common denominator is their professional education.

“It helped me a lot. Like really, really a lot, with the help of great and amazing teachers from the Honolulu Community College, it’s priceless,” said Leono. “It is amazing.”

“The instructors are excellent,” said Miszuk. “The program is the best.”

The program’s mission is to serve the community as a learning-centered, open door program that provides technical training to meet the demands of the fashion industry and the needs of the students. It offers an associate degree and certificates of achievement.

“We emphasize design, so we’re pattern makers, seamstresses, alterations. We do bridals, we do swimwear, men’s wear, tailoring—this is where they can learn it,” explained Nagaue.

And the annual senior design fashion show is where the students can show what they’ve learned combined with their limitless imagination.